forster etal



Aug. 11, 1.959

Filed June 27, 1956 J. FORSTER ETAL AUTOMATIC DELAY-ACTION DEVICE 2Sheets-Sheet 1 lmentovs Hen Forster Aug. 11, 1959 J. FORSTER ETALAUTOMATIC DELAY-ACTION DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 27, 1956JoSCFh Ellen United States Patent AUTOMATIC DELAY-ACTION DEVICE JosephForster and Ellen Forster (nee Dixon), Felling-.on-Tyne, EnglandApplication June 27,1956, Serial No. 594,316

5 Claims. (Cl. 222-336) An object of this invention is an automaticdelayaction device comprising a plate, a bore in the plate, a shaftslidably displaceable in said bore, and a resilient, compressible bellmember mounted on the shaft, the rim of said bell member beingengageable with said plate, and said bell member then co-acting withsaid plate as a compressible air chamber when said shaft is displaced inone direction in said bore, a restricted vent enabling egress of airfrom said chamber while being compressed, and said vent retarding entryof air into said chamber during automatic resilient de-compressionthereof to constitute a delay-action device.

Another object of the invention is an automatic delayaction device asaforesaid wherein the displacement of the shaft is greater than theextent of axial compressibility of said chamber, such device furthercomprising in combination resilient means associated with said shaft,operative against displacement thereof prior to engagement of the rim ofthe bell member with said plate, and operative after decompression ofsaid chamber to displace said rim from said plate.

A particular object of the invention is an automatically operateddisinfectant spray which is especially suitable for application tolavatories.

A spraying device in accordance with our invention is operated by themovement of a tubular member into a liquid reservoir against theresistance of a spring, said tubular member having a non-return valveand sliding overa fixed piston whereby it becomes charged within saidreservoir, said device being characterised in that the automatic returnmovement of said tubular member by said spring to discharge said memberis retarded by a compressible air chamber co-acting therewith, air beingejected from the interior of said chamber by the charging movement ofthe tubular member and the re-entry of air into the air chamber beingrestricted.

Another particular object of our invention is a variant of said sprayingdevice for blowing powder disinfectant or other powder, comprising infurther combination a cylinder, a piston on one end of said shaftdisplaceable in said cylinder, automatic non-return inlet means in saidcylinder, the space around'said shaft enclosed between said cylinder andpiston being an air pump chamber, a discharge duct from said cylinder, anon-return valve in said duct, a powder reservoir and a restrictedoutlet nozzle from said reservoir traversed by said duct.

In the accompanying drawings, which show by way of example only variousembodiments of our invention,

Figure 1 is an axial section of a spraying device for liquiddisinfectant, and

Figure 2 isa similar axial section of a powder blower.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, in the example thereinillustrated, our device comprises a cylindrical casing a in which ishoused a container b charged with a suitable disinfectant liquid. Thecontainer is provided with a valved air h'ole'b and is fitted with abush b and with a screw-on closure 0. A sleeve d can reciprocatevertically through said bush and extends into the container, beingclosed at its lower end and provided with a non-return valve d Thesleeve is supported by a spring e bearing between a boss at on thesleeve and the closure 0. The sleeve slides on a stationary tube 1 whichis bent at right angles above the boss d and passes through the wall ofthe cylinder a and is continued as required, terminating in a sprayingnozzle f When a pumping reciprocation is set up in the sleeve d, a smallquantity of the liquid from the container b is ejected through thenozzle F. A tubular member g bears on the boss at of the sleeve, saidmember being slotted at g to clear the tube'f and attached at its upperend to a rod h which passes through a plate a fixed within thecylindrical housing a and is firmly attached by a head ,1 to the top ofa rubber dome k coacting with the plate a An air hole i of fine bore isprovided through the head j.

The component parts of our device are normally in the relative positionsshown in full lines in the drawing, downward movement of the dome k androd It being resisted by the spring e. When however downward pressure onthe head j overcomes the spring, the rim k of the dome makes closecontact with the surface of the plate a and the air contained in thedome is forced out, the dome being flattened into substantially theposition indicated in dot-and-dash lines. The downward movement of thehead j is transferred by the rod h and member g to the boss d and sleeved causing the latter to slide downwards on the stationary tube into theposition indicated by dot-and-dash lines. On the removal of the downwardpressure on the head j and dome k, the return upward movement of theparts is retarded due to the suction efiect of the dome k on the plate aand the admission of air into the dome being restricted by the air holej Consequently the upward travel of the sleeve d under the impulse ofthe spring e and the ejection of liquid disinfectant from the sprayingnozzle f is delayed. It will therefore be seen that, by arranging thatthe pressing down of a flushing lever or the like is caused to applydownward pressure to the head j and dome k, the flush operated by saidlever will be completed before disinfectant is ejected into the lavatorypan by the nozzle f Our device as described may be used with a lavatorypan having a flushing cistern immediately behind it actuated by apivoted press-down lever or where the cistern is above said pan, and themovement of the flush lever or the like may be caused in any convenientmanner to apply downward pressure to the head j and dome k. Our devicemay be arranged in any convenient position and its spray tube 1 led tothe lavatory pan so that its nozzle sprays thereinto; for example, theouter end of the tube may be led over the rim of the pan between therubber stops which support the seat from the pan. If desired, our devicemay be located within the cistern, and the tube 1 led out through asealed orifice in the wall thereof.

By our invention we provide simple and inexpensive means forautomatically spraying disinfectant into a closet pan each time theflush lever is operated, and it will be understood that our device canbe readily adapted for operation by other forms of flush lever than thatherein referred to by way of example.

Referring now to Figure 2 of the drawing, wherein equivalent elementshave the same reference letters, the shaft h extends downwards into thecylindrical container b and has secured to its lower end a piston l, thespace around the lower end of the shaft and enclosed by the piston andthe container b acting as an air pumping cylinder. An eccentricallyfrusto-conical partition m is located in the intermediate portion of thecasing a, the space above the partition m and below the plate a PatentedAug. 11, 1959.

3 serving as a powder reservoir n which is fillable by removal of ascrewed plug 0. At the base of the partition m is a restricted outletnozzle p opening into an air discharge duct f which has a non-returnvalve q at its connection to the cylinder b. Powder in the reservoir Inormally is blocked in the horizontal part F of the duct f where ittraverses said nozzle, until during a delay-action decompression of theair chamber between the bell k and the plate a and when the rim.

k separates from the plate a and the spring e further expends withouthindrance, a current of air is expelled from the pumping chamber by thepiston l, and entrains. with it a quantity of powder from the reservoirn.

We claim:

1. A dispensing device comprising a plate, a shaft slidably displaceableon its axis, said axis being normal to said plate, a resilientcompressible bell member mountedon said shaft facing said plate, the rimof said bell member being free, said shaft being movable to bring saidrim into and out of contact with said plate, a spring on said shafturging said shaft to move said bell member away from said plate andoperable after said bell member has moved free of said plate, said shaftbeing movable against the action of said spring to bring said bellmember into contact with said plate and said bell member thenco-operating with said plate as a compressible air chamber when saidshaft is displaced towards. said plate to expel air between said rim andsaid plate, and a restricted vent for retarding entry of air into saidchamber during automatic resilient decompression thereof to constitute adelay action device, a reservoir, a non-return inlet valve for admittingair to said reservoir, fluid displacing means axially movable by saidshaft in said reservoir, a non-return valve permitting discharge offluid from said reservoir by said fluid displacing means, and adischarge duct for conveying fluid displaced through said dischargevalve.

2. A dispensing device for automatically spraying liquid comprising aplate, a bore in the plate, a shaft slidably displaceable in said bore,a resilient compress.- ible bell member mounted on said shaft, the rimof said bell member being free of said plate but being displaceable withsaid shaft to be engageable with said plate, and said bell member thenco-operating with said plate as a compressible air chamber when saidshaft is displaced in one direction in said bore to expel air betweensaid rim. and said plate, and a restricted vent for retarding entry ofair into said chamber during automatic resilient decompression thereofto constitute a delay action device, in combination with compressionspring means associated with said shaft, operative against dis placementof'said shaft prior to engagement of the rim of the bell member withsaid plate, and operative after decompression of said chamber todisplace said rim from said. plate, a liquid reservoir, a non-returninlet valve. for admitting air to said reservoir, a tubular memberconnected with said shaft for displacement axially within saidreservoir, a non-return valve in said tubular member permittingdischarge of fluid from said reservoir into the interior of said tubularmember, and a discharge duct in communication with the interior of saidtubular member, said duct having an axial portion over which saidtubular member is slidable to increase and decrease alternately thevolume of the interior of said tubular member.

3. A dispensing device for automatically spraying liquid comprising aplate, a bore in the plate, a shaft slidablydisplaceable in said bore, aresilient compressible bell member mounted on said shaft, the rim ofsaid bell member being free of said plate but being displaceable withsaid shaft to be engageable with said plate, and said bell member thenco-operating with said plate as a compressible air chamber when saidshaft is displaced in one direction in said bore to expel air betweensaid rim and said plate, and a restricted vent for retarding entry ofair into said chamber during automatic resilient decompression thereofto constitute a delay action device, in combination with compressionspring means associated with said shaft, operative against displacementof said shaft prior to engagement of the rim of the bell member withsaid plate, and operative after decompression of said chamber todisplace said rim from said plate, a reservoir for. liquid, a dischargeduct, a portion of said duct being co-axial with said shaft, meanssecuring said reservoir and said duct in fixed relation to said plate, anon-return air inlet valve to said reservoir, a sealing gland in saidreservoir, a tubular member surrounding said co-axial duct portion andslidable in said gland into said reservoir, a non-return inletvalveconnecting the interior of said tubular member with said reservoir,andmeans connecting said shaft to said tubular member for jointlongitudinal displacement, said spring means being disposed to urge saidtubular member outwardly of said reservoir.

4. A dispensing device for powder comprising a plate, a bore in: theplate, a shaft slidably displaceable in said bore, a. resilientcompressible bell member mounted on said shaft, the. rim of saidbellmember being free of said: platebut being displaceable with saidshaft to be engageable with said plate, and said. bell member then.co-operating with said. plate as a compressible air chamber when saidshaft is displaced in one direction in said bore to expel air between.said rim and said plate, and a restricted vent for retarding entry ofair into said chamber during automatic resilient decompression thereofto constitute a' delay action device, in combination with compressionspring means associated with said shaft, operative against displacementof said shaft prior to engagement of the rim of. the bell member withsaid' plate,, and operative after decompression of said chamber todisplace said rim from said. plate, a cylindrical air reservoir, anon-return inlet valve for admitting air to said reservoir, a piston onthe end of said shaft axially displaceable within said reservoir, anon-return valve disposed to permit discharge of displaced from said'reservoir by said piston during delayed decompression. of said bellmember, a discharge duct for air displaced. by said piston',,apowderhopper,. and a restricted outlet nozzleat the base of said hopper andopening into said discharge duct.

5. A dispensing device for powder as claimed in claim 4, comprising infurther combination a cylindrical cas-- ing co-axial with said shaft,said cylindrical reservoir being disposed co-axial'ly within said casingand remotely from said delay action device,'an eccentric frusto-conicalpartition in an. intermediate part of said casing, the

space above said partition and below said. platev serving as said powderhopper and said outlet'nozzle being at the base of said: partition, andsaid. spring 'means being operative during and after decompression ofsaid chamber. to aid discharge-of. air fromsaid. cylinder.

